Alarms
Alarms
Alarms monitor the system at runtime and notify the operator when something requires attention. Each alarm evaluates a set of trigger conditions every update cycle and, when active, broadcasts its message through dedicated system channels.
Alarm List and Priority
Alarms are processed in list order — position 1 is the highest priority, position 2 is lower, and so on. When multiple alarms are active simultaneously, only the highest-priority active alarm (lowest list index) is shown on the alarm channels at any given time.
The alarm list can be reordered by dragging.
Import and export
| Action | File | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Export Alarm | .alarm | Saves the selected alarm |
| Import Alarm | .alarm | Appends one alarm. An older full-set file that was saved as .alarm is appended as well |
| Export All | .alarms | Saves the whole list |
| Import All (Replace) | .alarms | Replaces the list with a set saved by Export All |
Settings
Identity
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Message | The text displayed on the alarm message channel. |
| Enabled | When unchecked the alarm is permanently disabled and will never fire. Disabled alarms are indicated by “(Disabled)” in the list. |
Trigger Conditions
Defines when the alarm becomes active. Uses the standard condition editor — see Conditions for full details on comparisons, CH mode, and logic operators.
The alarm activates on the first update cycle where all conditions evaluate to true (subject to the hold-off timer — see Timing below).
Acknowledgement
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Auto Acknowledge | When enabled, the alarm clears itself automatically after a fixed duration. |
| Auto Acknowledge After (s) | Duration in seconds before the alarm auto-clears. Only visible when Auto Acknowledge is on. |
| Acknowledge on Event | An event channel that, when it fires, immediately clears the alarm regardless of whether the trigger conditions are still true. |
Manual and automatic acknowledgement both set the alarm inactive and clears the auto-acknowledge timer.
Timing
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Repeat Hold Off (s) | Minimum time (seconds) before the same alarm can fire again after it clears. Prevents rapid re-triggering if the condition oscillates around the threshold. |
With Auto Acknowledge: the hold-off starts from when the alarm auto-clears.
Without Auto Acknowledge: the hold-off starts the moment the alarm first fires, so the alarm can only re-fire this many seconds after it was last triggered.
Output
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Show Value From | A channel whose live value is formatted and written to the alarm value channel alongside the message. Useful for showing e.g. “Water Temp: 102.4 °C”. The format respects the channel’s configured decimal places and units. |
| Active Status Channel | A channel that is set to 1 while this alarm is active and 0 otherwise. Wire this to anything that needs to react to one specific alarm independently of priority. |
Channels
While any alarm is active, the device writes the winning alarm’s data to system-wide channels every update cycle:
| Channel | Content |
|---|---|
| Alarm Message | The message string of the highest-priority active alarm. Set to "No Alarms" when all alarms clear. |
| Alarm Value | The formatted value of the alarm’s “Show Value From” channel, e.g. "102.4 °C". Empty string if no value channel is set. |
| Alarm Priority | 1-based index of the highest-priority active alarm. Set to (total alarms + 1) when all clear. |
| Alarm Begin | An event fired once when the system transitions from no active alarms to one or more active alarms. |
| Alarm End | An event fired once when the last active alarm clears. |
These channels can be used to drive displays, overlays, logging triggers, or any other part of the system.
Tips
- Order matters. If two alarms can be active at the same time, place the more critical one higher in the list so it takes priority on the alarm channels.
- Use Hold Off to avoid flicker. If a channel is noisy near a threshold, set a hold-off of a few seconds to prevent repeated firing.
- Active Status Channel for independent reactions. The alarm channels only show the highest-priority alarm. If you need a specific lower-priority alarm to also drive an output (LED, relay, log trigger), use its Active Status Channel.
- Always False / Always True conditions. An alarm with a single “Always True” condition fires immediately on startup — useful for testing the notification pipeline. An “Always False” condition is equivalent to disabling the alarm but leaves the configuration intact.